The ocean delivers oddities on a near-daily schedule, but it rarely stages such a succinct demo of its sharp side as it did at Cabarita Beach in northern New South Wales earlier this week. Here, a surfer and his board met what can only be described as a one-sided negotiation, with a great white shark playing the unlikely role of broker—and the result was, at least for the human party, surprisingly favorable.

Sudden Diplomacy in the Early Surf

Footage reviewed by 9News shows surfer Brad Ross afloat at dawn, sharing the lineup with another, decidedly less social, participant. The camera catches a sudden commotion: water erupts in churned foam as a dark shape cuts through. The sequence—mere seconds—ended with Ross upright and perplexed, but unscathed; his board, on the other hand, had been remodeled by force majeure.

Witness Kane Douglas told 9News he saw an “explosion of water and foam,” adding, “The first thing I checked for when he started saying ‘shark’ was blood in the water.” Fellow surfer Grace Shaw described an almost slapstick aftermath—”I looked back to paddle out and his board’s in pieces and his mate’s like, ‘Mate are you okay?’ and he’s like, ‘I don’t know what happened, it just blew up.’” There’s that perennial disconnect after a brush with something huge: disbelief, relief, and perhaps a faint urge to count limbs.

Onlookers found, mercifully, that Ross had escaped without so much as a scratch, though a gaping bite in the fiberglass told a more eventful story. Video posted to social media, as noted by 9News, displayed the board’s mangled remains—a kind of oceanfront exhibit in “Why We Stay Alert.”

Great White, Greater Mystery

Shortly after the incident, drone footage captured a great white shark off the same break—estimated between four to five meters, according to 9News. As the Braidwood Times details, some eyewitnesses pegged the shark at closer to four meters, but on this point, few seem eager to split hairs. Ninety minutes later, a shark matching the description was momentarily caught on a nearby drum line, only to wrench itself free before tagging could confirm its identity.

Even surfing legend Kelly Slater expressed his own brand of incredulity, responding online, “How does it bite that much and miss the guy? Insane!” as reported by both sources. Nearly anyone who’s ever seen a shark documentary has likely wondered how these gruesome close calls can end with nothing more than a story and a ruined surfboard.

Dr. Daryl McPhee—a shark expert from Bond University—explained to 9News that the timing of the encounter was anything but a fluke. This stretch of New South Wales is prime real estate for white sharks during bait fish and whale migrations. “We expect white sharks in that northern New South Wales area at this time of year,” he said, underscoring that for the sharks, it’s simply a rerun of their favorite seasonal program.

Same Beach, Repeated Patterns

In a point highlighted by both the Braidwood Times and 9News, this isn’t the first recent incident at Cabarita Beach. Just in June, a 16-year-old boy was bitten multiple times while swimming off Norries Headland, the same general area. Luck, apparently, has a busy schedule in this postcode.

After Monday’s close call, authorities moved quickly. Tweed Shire Council closed the beach for the day; as reported by 9News, Mayor Chris Cherry noted that some “unnecessary risk” was still being taken by surfers unwilling to wait for the all-clear. Surf Life Saving NSW monitored the waters with drones and urged everyone to heed the pros and stay ashore until further notice, as described by the Braidwood Times in their summary of the local response.

Absurdity, Fortuity, or Just Marine Mathematics?

It’s always tempting to look for meaning in these barely-missed calamities. Was Ross saved by luck, a surfing sixth sense, or simply the shark’s imperfect aim? The scientists will analyze bite patterns, estimate metrics, and send off reports, but it’s the human side—the odd relief in the aftermath, the wry camaraderie among witnesses—that lingers.

For now, the only certain thing is that the board’s second career as modern art has already begun, courtesy of a great white’s appetite for the unexpected. In a beach community accustomed to the odd and unpredictable, another story is etched, almost literally, into the surfboard’s foam. What’s more interesting: the odds, the outcome, or the unfathomable logic of the sea? If anything, this is just another reminder that, for all our patterns and trackers, nature occasionally prefers to keep the punchline for itself.